Her­itage safe­guard

A HER­ITAGE Bill has been passed to en­sure bet­ter pro­tec­tion for her­itage places in WA – in­clud­ing those at risk from de­mo­li­tion by ne­glect.

The Her­itage Bill is the re­sult of in­ten­sive com­mu­nity con­sul­ta­tion fol­low­ing a State Gov­ern­ment prom­ise to fix the some­times un­clear her­itage as­sess­ment and con­sul­ta­tion pro­cesses.

Key changes will in­clude a smoother process for en­ter­ing a place in the State Reg­is­ter, cer­tainty for own­ers wish­ing to de­velop their her­itage places and in­creased trans­parency.

There will also be greater pro­tec­tion for Statereg­is­tered places that will pro­ceed through a mix of in­cen­tives, such as grants and ac­cess to tech­ni­cal as­sis­tance.

Her­itage Min­is­ter David Tem­ple­man said the cur­rent Act was writ­ten 28 years ago at a time when the de­mo­li­tion of Perth’s built her­itage was un­der­taken in the name of progress.